Green Lantern: New Guardians #38 Review

“This….This is a message”

With GodHead over and the recent revelation that Kyle Rayner is living on borrowed time unless he finds a way to release sole control over the Life Equation, writer Justin Jordan is under the gun to resolve these and any other dangling plot threads he wants to wrap up before his run, and the entire series, ends in March. On the surface Green Lantern: New Guardians #38 appears to be opening a whole new set of problems for Kyle Rayner to deal with, but by the end of the issue it becomes clear that what Jordan has in mind could wrap the series up in a nice clean bow.

The opening sequence is a nice re-introduction of sorts to Saysoran, who readers might remember from her appearance in Green Lantern: New Guardians Futures End #1, the young lady allowed by an omnipotent Kyle Rayner to challenge him some five years in the future. The future is now and we see how Saysoran is a true hero to her people in the coming of one of the Source Wall titans set loose during the final battle with the New Gods in Green Lantern Annual #3. Jordan and artist Diogenes Neves do a nice slight of hand job to make the reader think the titan is dealt with one way, only to later turn the notion around with a nice reveal.

Once the teaser is over this issue’s major strength unfolds as Kyle and Carol Ferris start to have “the talk”. While the dialogue is heavy, it needs to be as the two characters finally have a chance to try to come to an emotional understanding of where “they” are. The conversation seems as natural as it could be, however Carol’s admission that her feelings for Kyle may not exactly be natural, and Kyle’s willingness to be okay with it and still move forward seem a bit immature compared to the conversation Carol has with Hal Jordan in this month’s Green Lantern #38. Again, maybe I’m old fashioned but knowing that this woman might not have real feelings for me, and all the baggage that comes with the triangle a relationship creates would be more than enough for me to send the woman packing.

Always let the woman start when you’re going to have one of “those” talks!

Kyle’s admission that he hasn’t been as successful at moving past Alex’s death as he thought was well handled and showed a lot of depth of character. I still feel that the relationship is like Lois Lane dating Connor Kent, but I know there are readers who are enjoying the dynamic and for them I hope they are getting what they desire from the sequence. I wouldn’t expect their talk to arrive at any real conclusions and the incoming body of the Source Wall titan as it crashes onto the surface of Zamoran serves as a suitable conversation ender.

The rest of the moves quickly as Kyle and Carol trace the path of the titan back to Susurrus where they encounter Saysoran and what exactly sent the titan their way in the first place. The revelation calls back to unresolved events from Green Lantern: New Guardians Annual #2 and draws this issue to a close.

This sets up the final two issues of the series pretty well in that we know that Kyle, if we can take what the Guardians said as truth, will die if he remains “in sole control of the life equation.” This returning threat could be the missing piece of the puzzle, as perhaps said control could be shared between the two, creating a new whole once merged. Or it could be that a return trip through the Source Wall, or some help from the newly released Relic, might be the solution to Kyle’s situation. Or it could be something else entirely. At any rate it’s more good fodder for speculation and offers some more ways for Kyle to survive the burden he carries. There’s also the silent God Killers out there, not to mention a newly energized Saint Walker and the hiding pair of Ganthet and Sayd out there!

And here we go!

The Guardians are nowhere to be found this issue which seemed a bit odd given how closely they’ve been following Kyle since he returned from the Source Wall. They seemed to have gotten away with spying on the Corps and basically playing with people’s minds for some time now, but I have a feeling they are keeping tabs on the White Lantern from afar.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #38 kicks off the last storyline of this series not with a bang, but with a more subtle bump. While the interpersonal moments between Kyle Rayner and Carol Ferris are much needed they don’t get as much time to breath as they should so that the final three-part story can be set up. The result is a good issue but one which would have been better had Jordan put a little more meat on the readers’ plate. Diogene Neves does an admirable job with art, only really stumbling as many artists do with Kyle’s mask. Three out of five lanterns.

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